Some interesting points regarding the current Nickle price from...

Some interesting points regarding the current Nickle price from the kitco base metals side:

The list
Inco. Nickel is in such short supply that a modest drop in Chinese consumption (for making stainless steel among other products) is almost irrelevant to the world price of this industrial metal.

Despite production increases from Inco and Russia’s Norilsk Nickel, nickel supply will run about 37 to 40 kilotons short of demand in 2004, according to estimates from UBS and Goldman Sachs. In 2005, the global supply deficit is likely to be about 19 kilotons, according to UBS. With China making up about 10% of global nickel demand, a drop of one percentage point in the growth rate of the Chinese economy would represent just about 10% of the global supply deficit. UBS calculates that the potential upside to nickel prices from the current spot price is about 38%.